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Faith Healer: on platform at coliseum,
said, I have faith that 2 people will be healed…where are you? A man ran
down the aisle, named Harry [w/ lisp]. Asked what his ailment was, he
replied, I can’t talk wite [right]. He was instructed to go behind a
curtain. Another man hobbled down on crutches, named Frank. He said, I
haven’t walked in 20 years w/out crutches. He was told to go behind the
curtain w/ Harry…then the healer said Frank, you’ve been healed, slide those
crutches out under curtain one at a time. They appeared, and the place came
unglued. The healer held up those crutches and broke them over his knee…all
cheered! Then he declared Harry to be healed and said: “Harry, the next
sentence you speak will be the first you’ve ever said normally…usher, take
him a mic. What would you like to say? Then everyone heard the words,
“Fwank fell down!”
Have you ever fallen down spiritually while
running this race / been tripped up by the devil?
You’re not a failure because you fall…only if you don’t get
backupIf you get up just once more than you fall then
you’re a success!
Proverbs 24:16
For a just man falleth
seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.
What would you think of a preacher who would
curse and swear in front of one of the teenagers?
Peter did just that…and denied the
Lord, but in spite of it all, God gave Him a new start and Peter learned how
to fail forward! [read text]
1.Failure doesn’t have to be a hitching post; it can be a
guide post
We can learn from failures and sins! God
has a way of bringing good out of bad!
Some have low self esteem and think God sees
them as a composite of all their failures…but not so!
Ill.--My dad doesn’t introduce me as Jerry,
my son who drained the transmission fluid and filled up the oil…though I
did! Or…
Jerry, my son who…stole truck and went to
Iowa [at 15!]
…rode motorcycle w/ no shirt and hit
bumblebee at 50 mph! [Yes, that stings!]
My earthly father has no need for
such memories…and my heavenly father has no need for such either!
When God forgives, He forgets [as far as
east from west!]
Not to say there’s no consequences,
but from a judgmental perspective...God doesn’t hold them against us!
2.If we fail God, it will probably be at a point of our greatest
strength
Peter’s greatest strength was his courage!
We criticize Peter for taking his
eyes off the Lord on the sea of Galilee and beginning to sink…but at least
he got out of the boat!
When they came to arrest Jesus,
Peter pulled out his sword to defend him/tried to take off one of their
heads!
This big, burly fisherman, however,
cowered down before a teenage girl…in the area of his greatest strength!
Other examples:
Moses
Bible says he was the
meekest among men [meekness: strength under control] But what did he do?
He lost control of his emotions and killed an Egyptian/later smote rock
twice!
Abraham
He is called the
father of faith…but he left Canaan
and went into Egypt,
and lied about Sarah his wife, because he didn’t have enough faith that God
would protect him…he failed in his area of strength!
David
A picture of
purity/apple of God’s eye/man after God’s own heart…but he committed
adultery/failed in his area of strength!
None of these failed in their weakness, but
in their strength…because we all have a tendency to leave our strengths
unguarded!
An unguarded strength is a
double weakness!
Paul said (II Cor. 12:10),
when I am weak, them am I strong! [for then I’m depending on the Lord, and
not myself!]
[Prov. 16:18 says that pride goes before
destruction / The NT echoes in I Cor. 10:12, “let him that thinketh he
standeth take heed lest he fall]
v. 33 we can admire Peter’s statement
at first glance, but there’s a difference between saying I can do all things
thru Christ,
or just I can do all things!
*The boastful man is tempting the
devil to tempt him.
3.Before
we sin, the devil is a tempter; after we sin, the devil is an
accuser
Before we sin, he
says, go ahead, no one will know, you can get away w/ it…
…afterward he says, you’ll never get away w/
it/you’ve blown it…you might as well not even try to serve God!
Satan’s goal is not only for you to
fall, but for you to stay down…so let’s learn how to fail forward!
3 Wonderful Truths
I. Even when we
fail, God is still sovereign
Sovereign
means “in control”.
(Luke 22:60) The rooster crowing is a testimony that God
was still in control/the Lord shut the beaks of hundreds of roosters until
the precise moment of the 3rd denial!
v. 61 right now Peter is at his
worst/lowest/failing/falling/out of control, but he’s got a message from the
Lord, “I’m still in control!”
II Timothy 2:13
“If we believe not yet he abideth faithful…”
We often fail God, but He never fails
us/often I’m not faithful to Him, but Great is His Faithfulness!/I’m not so
great…but “How Great Thou Art!”
To learn to fail forward, we must remember
that even when we despair and feel out of control, God is still in
control…He’s still sovereign!
And when Rom. 8:28 says all things
work together for good…that includes our failures!
“Pick up the broken pieces, and bring them
to the Lord/trust in His holy Word/He will put them back together and make
your life complete/just place the broken pieces at the Savior’s feet!”
You may feel like you’ve blown it, and maybe
you have!…but no matter what you’ve done…God still has a wonderful plan for
your life! How do I know that? You’re still breathing!
II. When we fail,
God is sympathetic(Luke 22:61)
The moment Peter denied, he turned
and saw the Lord, and their eyes met!
It wasn’t a look of disappointment or
anger…it was a look of love!
*God is not
changing us so He can love us; He
loves
us and, therefore, He is changing us.
*God does not love us because we are
valuable; we are valuable
because He loves us!
GOD LOVES YOU JUST AS YOU ARE – AND HE LOVES
YOU TOO MUCH TO LEAVE YOU THAT WAY!
[unconditional love we should also have to
OUR children, and thus we train and discipline them]
Psalms 103:14
“For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.”
[that’s unconditional love]
His grace is not a license to sin…and anyone
who views it that way is not truly saved! But it’s so good to know that
when we fall…He is sympathetic…He is sovereign…
Ill.—couple named the York’s/Parker and
Flossie/up in years, Flossie got Alzheimer’s, gradually, but eventually she
was completely incoherent…nothing she said made sense/Mr. York later
recounted how he had to do everything for her: feed, bathe, diaper, etc./one
day, sitting in their living room, she miraculously stepped out of her
illness for a moment and looked at him and said, “do you want me?”
He said “it broke my heart! I ran
to her and said, O, of course I want you…the greatest privilege of my life
is caring for you!” Then she smiled…and just as quickly as she stepped out
of her illness she slipped back in…
I think that sometimes we feel that way
after failing God/we’re almost embarrassed to go to Him in prayer/ask for
forgiveness for that same old sin again!/and the devil causes us to look to
heaven and wonder, God, do you even want me?
Good news:
He wants you! He’s there all the time, waiting patiently in line! He’s
sovereign and can make lemonade out of lemons like us…and when we fail, He’s
sympathetic!
III.Even when we fail, we are secure
Aren’t you glad your salvation
doesn’t depend upon YOU? If you’ve been born again, you are forever
changed…You are safe and secure in His Mighty Hands!
v. 31-32
Explain the sifting process:
chaff remains in sifter, wheat falls thru/Satan, the accuser, wanted Peter
to fall, so he could throw the chaff in God’s face!
[“desired” to have
you=asked permission…Satan has to ask!]
Satan wanted to sift Peter to
condemn him…Jesus allowed the sifting in order to cleanse Peter.
Jesus also knew there was
some chaff/and that Peter would never deal w/ it until he became aware of
it…so He allowed it!
Satan had a malevolent
motive/Jesus a benevolent!
So, Jesus used the devil’s
tool--to help Peter!
[Just like David used
Goliath’s own sword to cut off his head!]
Jesus isn’t concentrating on the
chaff in your life…He sees the wheat…and He wants to cleanse you!
3 things Jesus knew about Peter:
1. Failure
2.Faith
3.Future
Peter, you’ve blown it
big time, but I’m gonna help you up, and you’re gonna be stronger for it…and
believe it or not, you’re gonna preach and 3,000 get saved…you’re gonna
write part of the Bible, you’re gonna voluntarily be crucified for me upside
down!
Maybe you’ve
failed…who hasn’t? Or fallen? Get back up…just don’t fail to be
saved!
Christians: can you
see the sovereign Lord behind your struggles? He’s sympathetic…and you’re
secure!
You’ve Fallen…But You CAN Get Up!
Luke 22:54-62
You’re not a failure because you
f______…only if you don’t
g____b______u__Proverbs 24:16
1.Failure doesn’t have to be a h______________ post; it can be a
g________ post
2.If we fail God, it will probably be at a point of our greatest
s______________ II
Cor. 12:10, v. 33
3.Before
we sin, the devil is a t____________; after we sin, the devil
is an a____________
3 Wonderful
Truths
I. Even when we fail, God is still
s________________
means “in c____________”
Luke 22:60, v. 61, II Timothy 2:13, Rom. 8:28
II. When we fail, God is
s____________________Luke
22:61
God is not c______________
us so He can l______ us;
He l________ us and,
therefore, He is c______________ us
Psalms 103:13-14
III. Even when we fail, we are
s__________ v. 31-32
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